As eighth-year defensive tackle Siale Taupaki took the field for the first time at Penn State on Saturday, his parents, Kolo and Seilose, sat in their California home, ready to watch their son start in Beaver Stadium.
But they wouldn’t be able to watch him if it weren’t for the internet service that Taupaki pays for.
“We don’t watch a lot of TV back at home,” Taupaki said Tuesday. “We just work and rest, and that’s about it. But aside from that, I was glad that they [were] able to see it for themselves.”
Taupaki left his home state this offseason, opting to transfer to Penn State after seven seasons at UCLA. He also moved across the country from his family.
Siale Taupaki bought his parents internet so they could watch Saturday's game vs. Marshall.
The DT is playing his 8th season of college football, but says he now has something to play for at Penn State under Matt Campbell.
That leap of faith came after Taupaki spoke with Matt Campbell on the phone while he was in the transfer portal. The first thing Campbell asked about was Taupaki’s family, which instantly sold the defensive tackle on playing for the Nittany Lions.
“Not a lot of people asked for my family or everyone else that came with me,” said Taupaki, who has compiled 39 tackles and two sacks in his career. “He asked specifically, how was my mom, how was my dad. With that, I knew he was a family man, then he was a football coach. So from there, I knew I could come to him about anything because he’s a father before he was a coach.”
However, playing for Campbell at Penn State means Taupaki’s parents couldn’t watch him in person. Taupaki said they’re too old to fly, leaving limited options to see their son play this season.
So Taupaki is trying to keep them involved as much as he can.
He called his family after Penn State’s win over Marshall and told them about the game-day atmosphere in Happy Valley, which included seeing cows and horses. “You don’t see that a lot in the West Coast,” Taupaki said.
“I told them [Beaver Stadium] is bigger and better,” he said. “That’s it. My pops told me that he had the chills just hearing about it, because he can visualize in the game.”
With his name, image, and likeness income, Taupaki is helping his family.
“My parents are still struggling,” he said. “I’m broke. I’m really just trying to fill in all the holes that I have back at home, understanding the platform that I’m having, and just seeing all of that stuff and understanding how far I came.”
Siale Taupaki (92) with offensive lineman Anthony Donkoh (68) on Aug. 7.Craig Houtz / For The Inquirer
Taupaki said he came from “nothing.” At one point growing up, he and 22 family members lived in a two-bedroom house, so some had to sleep outside.
Those tough times made Taupaki who he is today — someone who wants to learn about everybody on his team, where they come from, and what their story is. He also shakes every media member’s hand before leaving his press conference.
Siale Taupaki is a real one.
After an emotionally open and honest interview– "Im broke, come from nothing" — Taupaki didn't leave until he shook every reports hand.
When he returns home, Taupaki isn’t a Penn State starting defensive tackle. Rather, he’s a son continuing to help give his parents a better life.
“Everything that I got to do beforehand and afterhand, I got to do it based off my parents,” he said. “That football stuff is out the door. So the opportunity I got with the NIL era and the great coaching staff and all that, I’m thankful for that. But at the end of the day, I still got stuff to do as a son. So to play my role as that, I’m forever grateful.”
Paoli/Thorndale outbound trains from Center City were suspended this morning right before morning rush hour and again Tuesday evening because of wire problems, a SEPTA spokesperson said.
“We are having significant delays on the Paoli/Thorndale Line due to downed wires near 37th and Mantua. Amtrak is working on it, but we expect the delays will last through the evening,” SEPTA spokesperson Andrew Busch said in a 6:45 p.m. email.
Service also was disrupted Tuesday morning on both the inbound and outbound Cynwyd Line, but that service has since resumed.
Amtrak reported at least one train delay earlier in the day.
Damage to overhead catenary wires at an Amtrak railway junction near the Philadelphia Zoo, which some SEPTA regional rail services like Paoli/Thorndale and Cynwyd share, delayed and suspended some rail service across the region, Busch said earlier on Tuesday.
An Amtrak spokesperson said crews responded and restored service in both directions by approximately 7:25 a.m.
Where LeBron James would choose to play the final years of his storied career was a fixture on prediction markets this summer. Now, James could benefit from the boom of those platforms.
On Saturday, James shared a short video on social media announcing a partnership with the prediction platform Polymarket. The Sixer then posted a longer commercial-ready version of the video Tuesday, in which James visits Polymarket’s fictional headquarters and its “sports” floor.
In his tour around the office, Eli Manning, Derek Jeter, Spike Lee, Sue Bird, Emily Ratajkowski, John Leguizamo, and other athletes and celebrities make cameospromoting the platform ahead of football season.
It is unclear what the nature of James’ partnership with Polymarket is, or if the partnership extends beyond this commercial. Polymarket did not respond to questions about James’ partnership.
Step inside Polymarket HQ.
Somebody get the ice bath ready for @EliManning after that tackle. 🧊🤣🏈
James’ partnership raises ethical questions about whether an active athlete should be promoting and benefiting from gambling platforms, and particularly prediction markets, where inside information and influence could sway bets or determine their outcomes.
Polymarket and other prediction markets typically have rules prohibiting insider trading and are regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. The NBA has no policy against its athletes partnering with prediction markets, and is likely to join other leagues by announcing its own official prediction market partnerships before the start of the forthcoming season, as reported by Front Office Sports.
Prediction markets vs. traditional gambling
Polymarket and other prediction markets argue they are distinct from traditional sports gambling platforms because there is no “house” that sets odds and stands opposite gamblers. Instead, bets are agreements between individuals and the market sets the odds. But in practice, prediction markets function similarly to sportsbooks, with even more opportunities to wager money.
Prediction markets offer opportunities that go beyond traditional bets on wins and stats, like which teams won’t win the Super Bowl, which team a free agent player might sign with, or whether a quarterback will average a certain number of fantasy football points over the season. The bets are phrased as binary, yes-or-no outcomes.
Prediction market offerings extend beyond sports, bringing even more ethical questions — at any moment someone can bet on whether a public figure will say a particular word during a speech, when traffic in the Strait of Hormuz will return to normal levels, or the number of confirmed measles cases in the United States in 2026. Last month, several Democratic senators wrote a letter to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission demanding it stop allowing bets on California wildfires.
“Prediction markets have been enabled to expand rapidly, increasingly inviting speculation on war, political violence, disasters, and public emergencies that raise ethical and public policy concerns. These markets risk creating perverse incentives, undermining public trust and commodifying human suffering,” they wrote.
A Kalshi advertisement at a bus stop in Washington, D.C. Daniel Heuer
A U.S. Special Forces soldier was arrested in April after authorities said he made more than $400,000 using insider information to place Polymarket bets on the military’s raid capturing Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro.
Athletes are typically prohibited from placing traditional bets on their own leagues, but the rules on prediction markets are less defined.A few months ago, the NBA, MLB, and their players unions sent a letter to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission asking it to bar athletes and league employees from betting on the NBA and MLB in prediction markets.
The gray areas of legality and ethics around sports gambling are how Phillies All-Star Bryce Harper became the center of controversy this summer, after The Inquirer reported that Harper had sent a personalized video on behalf of the sports betting platform FanDuel to a man who had become addicted to gambling.
Harper later said he did not have a partnership with FanDuel, and was not aware what the video was being used for or that it was going to someone with a gambling addiction.
More partnerships on the way?
Despite the ethical issues, partnerships between athletes and prediction markets appear to be growing. James seems to be the only active athlete partnered with Polymarket, but other major athletes — including soccer star Lionel Messi —have deals with a competitor, Kalshi, or have invested in the platform.
Elsewhere in the NBA, Giannis Antetokounmpo announced he had become a Kalshi shareholder in February, just after the NBA trade deadline, when Antetokounmpo had been the subject of numerous trade rumors attracting bets on prediction platforms. On deadline day, Antetokounmpo tweeted a clip from The Wolf of Wall Street to happily announce he was not leaving the Milwaukee Bucks, but over the summer, he successfully pushed for a trade to the Miami Heat.
Bettors on Kalshi reportedly traded more than $23 million over Antetokounmpo’s future during the deadline betting window.
“One of the things in terms of the ethical issues [of the partnership] is the timing,” Melinda Roth, a professor of business, finance, and sports law at Washington and Lee University, told Fortune magazine of Antetokounmpo’s investment. “The timing really puts a spotlight on how prediction markets work, who is allowed to buy contracts, and who has inside information.”
Los Angeles Lakers’ LeBron James, left, shares a laugh with Philadelphia 76ers’ Tyrese Maxey, right, during an NBA basketball game, Sunday, Dec. 7, 2025, in Philadelphia.Chris Szagola / AP
Yet the future of prediction markets is somewhat unclear. They have the backing of President Donald Trump’s administration. Meanwhile, some states are attempting to wrest regulatory control back from the federal government, and the issue may soon come before the U.S. Supreme Court.
But the direct ties between prediction markets with athletes are not necessarily inevitable — the NFL and PGA Tour prohibit their players from partnering with prediction markets.
Only a few years ago, James took a much different stance on sports gambling, sayingthe practice was taking the integrity out of sports.
“It’s weird that some of our regular fans that love the game kind of only care about a parlay now. … It’s kind of taken some of the integrity out of the game because people are kind of really only caring about the betting,” he told the Los Angeles Times in 2023.
A year later, James signed an endorsement deal with the sports betting platform DraftKings, promoting wagers during football season in a series of commercials alongside Kevin Hart.
Phillies shortstop prospect Aidan Miller took another incremental step forward on Tuesday in his return from his low back condition.
Miller’s rehab assignment was transferred from single-A Clearwater to double-A Reading, where he was scheduled to play seven innings on Tuesday night. The 22-year-old played just one game for the Threshers, going 1-for-2 with a double and a walk on Saturday.
On Tuesday, he was in the Fightin’ Phils lineup at shortstop, hitting No. 3 in the order.
Likely contributing to the decision is the fact that Clearwater’s regular season has already ended, with the Threshers playing their first playoff game on Tuesday. Reading has a week remaining before their postseason begins on Sept. 15, allowing for more regular game action.
But Miller will also be facing a higher level of competition in double A, one that he grew accustomed to in 2025 when he hit .259 with an .809 OPS for the Fightin’ Phils.
Miller is ranked the Phillies’ No. 2 prospect and No. 61 overall by MLB Pipeline, but at one point it looked like 2026 might be a lost season for him. A sore back that bothered him in spring training turned into a diagnosis of discogenic pain and facet inflammation in the lumbar spine, which was ultimately treated with a minimally invasive procedure.
Aidan Miller had an .809 OPS at double-A Reading in 2025.Yong Kim / Staff Photographer
While the initial timeline announced by the Phillies was six to eight weeks to return to games following the June 5 procedure, Miller did not appear in a game until Sept. 5.
“As far as the long-term effects, positive, negative, I would let the [medical] experts speak to that,” farm director Luke Murton said on Phillies Extra, The Inquirer’s baseball podcast. “But I feel pretty confident, [based on] what we’ve been seeing lately, that he’s on the right trajectory to be with us and be a good player for a long time.”
The Astros’ Yordan Alvarez is making a run at the AL triple crown this season.David J. Phillip
Limiting Alvarez
The Phillies were surely glad to see the last of Ronald Acuña Jr. — at least, until they head to Atlanta on Friday — after his two home runs against them during the Braves series. But the Astros came to town on Tuesday with another star in tow in designated hitter Yordan Alvarez, who is having a career year.
Alvarez was penciled in Houston’s lineup in the No. 2 spot on Tuesday.
“What’s not the challenge of Yordan?” said interim manager Don Mattingly. “If you look at the numbers, he kind of handles all zones, all pitches. I just think you got to be really careful with him. He’s been this way for a long time. This year seems to be better than ever, but he’s always been a guy that you don’t feel like there’s a lot of places to go. You can’t do the same things over and over with him. He makes adjustments. So yeah, he’s a handful.”
Alvarez will continue his pursuit of the American League triple crown against the Phillies. If he can maintain his hold on the AL lead in batting average (.314), homers (38, tied for first with Tampa’s Junior Caminero), and RBIs (95, tied for first with Baltimore’s Pete Alonso), Alvarez would become baseball’s first winner since Miguel Cabrera in 2012.
Mattingly knows firsthand how difficult of an accomplishment that would be. He never won a triple crown in his 14 seasons playing for the Yankees, but he won the AL batting title in 1984 with a .343 average. In his MVP year in 1985, Mattingly led the AL in RBIs with 145 but finished fourth in homers (35) and third in average (.324).
“It just talks about his year, what he’s kind of balanced in everything, from average to his on-base [percentage], his power, driving in runs when they need him. So yeah, he’s just having a tremendous year,” Mattingly said. “He’s been a great player for me for a long time, and now I think you get a better view of it, because it’s more of a national thing with the triple crown in mind. You see it all the time on the scoreboards and things like that. So yeah, he’s having a great year.”
Extra bases
Infield coach Bobby Dickerson took over duties as the Phillies’ first base coach on Tuesday as Paco Figueroa is dealing with a hip injury. Figueroa was still in the dugout. … Cristopher Sánchez (16-5, 2.58 ERA) is scheduled to start Wednesday opposite Astros right-hander Hunter Brown (5-3, 3.31). … The Phillies announced that Flyers forward Porter Martone will throw out the first pitch before Thursday’s series finale.
LIV Golf filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Tuesday in New Jersey with more than $500 million in debt, part of its goal to revive the league without Saudi funding.
The move was widely expected after the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia abruptly ended its financial support after the final event of the 2026 season. LIV said it has agreed to a restructuring plan with BC Partners as the primary source of its capital.
“This process gives us the structure and time to pursue a landmark transaction and begin the next chapter of LIV Golf,” CEO Scott O’Neil said in a news release.
O’Neil has said “LIV Golf 2.0” would feature players as majority owners in a reduced schedule. In a letter to LIV Golf fans, O’Neil said the new look would expand the size of the field from 57 to 75 players and introduce a 54-hole cut for the first time.
In a letter to LIV Golf fans, CEO Scott O’Neil said the new look would expand the size of the field from 57 to 75 players and introduce a 54-hole cut for the first time.Matthew Harris
He said the team concept would be built around nationalities and that LIV would continue to tap some of its more successful markets in Australia, South Africa and Asia.
Still, the new version would be a shell of what LIV had been when it launched in June 2022 — enormous signing bonuses to lure away top names from the PGA Tour, and excessive spending that topped more than $5 billion before PIF said in April it was pulling the plug.
Still to be determined is the future of the biggest stars still with LIV, most notably Jon Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau. Rahm is playing the Irish Open this week and told BBC Northern Ireland: “I still have a contract with LIV 1.0 that I’m more than willing to fulfill. Like I said, time will tell.”
Rahm, DeChambeau, Dustin Johnson and Cameron Smith were the leading four creditors listed in the filing.
LIV listed between $100 million and $500 million in estimated assets, and $500 million and $1 billion in liabilities.
WASHINGTON — Iran has launched missiles toward U.S. targets in Jordan, Iranian state-run media said, following the latest American strikes.
It’s the latest tit-for-tat retaliation after the U.S. military said it destroyed five Iranian crude oil tankers following two attacks on a U.S. warship by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard over the past two days.
U.S. Central Command, when asked about the strikes on the Jordanian airbase, said it had no information to offer.
The Iranian tankers destroyed in the attack were the Kivik, Charminar, Horizon 1, and the Riesco in the Gulf of Oman, Central Command said. The U.S. military also destroyed the vessel Derya, which was located near Kharg Island in the Strait of Hormuz.
Central Command said the crews of the five vessels were told to abandoned ship before the attacks.
The strikes come just three days after U.S. forces destroyed three Iranian oil tankers after Iran’s Revolutionary Guards tried to attack a U.S. aircraft carrier and destroyer.
Iranian state television also reported the U.S. strikes, saying U.S. forces attacked at least three Iranian oil tankers near the southern port of Jask and near Kharg Island in the Persian Gulf. It said the crews were evacuated.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the U.S. will not allow Iran’s attacks to go unanswered.
“Iran continues to try to hit U.S. naval ships. And for every time they do that or try to do that, they’re going to lose tankers. And I think you’ll see that again today,” Rubio told reporters Tuesday when asked about the latest attacks in Iran while on a trip to Colombia.
Danny Citrinowicz, an Iran expert at Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies, warned that such back-and-forth strikes can only risk more retaliation and further impact to the global economy.
“There is no kinetic solution to the Strait of Hormuz problem,” he said on social media. “Every attempt to impose one only brings Washington and Tehran closer to an escalation that may become increasingly difficult to control.”
An Iranian state TV reporter in Jask said an Iranian tanker was struck near the coast of Yekbeni, while another explosion was heard in the area whose source and location were not immediately clear.
State TV later reported that the U.S. military attacked a second tanker near waters off Jask. It said the crews of both vessels were being evacuated by lifeboat toward the Jask coast.
Separately, state television reported that another Iranian tanker was attacked in Kharg Island anchorage area. It said the crew was safely evacuated shortly after the strike.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Navy on Tuesday warned crews of oil tankers near ports in Kuwait and Bahrain to immediately leave their vessels, saying the ships could be targeted in retaliation for U.S. attacks on Iranian tankers. It accused Kuwait and Bahrain of hosting U.S. forces and assisting in the attacks.
On Saturday, the U.S. military said it had struck three Iranian oil tankers after Navy warships were targeted with ballistic missiles, warning that it would, “if necessary, destroy Iran’s limited and exposed oil fleet.” Iran later said it planned to announce a new “exclusion zone” near the Strait of Hormuz aimed at vessels intending to transit.
The latest strikes are part of a dual economic and military approach by President Donald Trump as he struggles to bring an end to a more than six-month-old war with Tehran.
The Trump administration on Tuesday also imposed sanctions on additional elements of Iran’s aviation industry, targeting more than two dozen commercial and private airlines as well as foreign cargo service providers in its new push to isolate Tehran from its remaining trading partners.
Both the U.S. and Iran are seeking to exert control over the Strait of Hormuz, where about one-fifth of the world’s oil passed before the war began. Rising energy prices are posing political problems for Trump and his Republican Party ahead of the November midterm elections. A barrel of international standard Brent crude briefly climbed as high as $99.46 on Tuesday.
A U.S. blockade of Iranian ports has squeezed the country’s economy by limiting its oil exports, while the American military has been helping a limited number of ships transit on a route through the Strait of Hormuz off Oman. Tehran wants ships to follow a route that it chooses through the strait, which was considered an international waterway before the war.
It may be hard to remember in today’s polarized political climate, but there used to be a time when members of Congress — and even Democratic and Republican presidents — would work across the aisle to approve important pieces of legislation.
And there was no way around it.
Until Newt Gingrich came up with his Contract with America in 1994, Republicans had been the minority in the House for 40 consecutive years, making partnering with Democrats unavoidable. Gingrich, then the House minority whip, elevated local races to the national stage, crushing the former conservative Democratic stronghold in the South and flipping it for Republicans. The new GOP platform also moved the focus away from compromise to a more confrontational approach.
This brutalization of partisan politics has reached a new nadir under President Donald Trump. His hateful rhetoric and frequent attacks on Democrats have made it nearly impossible for members of both parties to constructively work together.
Meanwhile, with the midterm elections around the corner, the parties themselves seem to be fracturing.
For the GOP, Trump’s own MAGA candidates are having to deal with increasing competition from traditional Republicans after the president’s laundry list of failures — a war of choice in Iran, soaring gas prices, and a rising cost of living — continues to grow.
Add to this the Silicon Valley billionaire crowd and the MAHA movement that was brought in by former Democrats Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Tulsi Gabbard, and you get a party disagreeing on basic ideals. For Democrats, the Democratic Socialists of America are trying to radically change the societal landscape and are pulling the party to the left more than many pragmatic centrists would like.
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich stands as he waits for an audience with Pope Francis in 2020. Gingrich swept away four decades of Democratic House rule with the “Contract with America” in 1994.
With many voters tired of political division that gets nothing accomplished, yet strongly divided themselves over what issues they value most, the U.S. should consider whether the big tent politics of the past are still relevant, or whether it’s time to move beyond a two-party system.
In Europe, countries like France and Great Britain have already undergone this shift.
In Germany, where I’m from, there was a strict three-party system after World War II, with the Liberals often serving as power brokers between Conservatives and Social Democrats. In 1983, the Greens made it into the federal parliament, or Bundestag, paving the way for the first real left-wing coalition between Social Democrats and Greens in 1998.
Through the coalition, the Greens were able to negotiate a gradual end to nuclear power. The party also introduced incentives for investments into renewable energy as well as an ecological tax on fossil fuels — along with taking the first step toward marriage equality for gay couples.
After German reunification, the successor of East Germany’s state party united with a separatist movement of the Social Democrats, forming another strong contender left of the established spectrum that put heavy societal pressure on the introduction of a minimum wage, rent freezes in metropolitan areas, and a renewed focus on subsidized and public housing.
Most recently, the Alternative für Deutschland, or AfD, keeps shaking up the system with its MAGA-influenced right-wing approach, being especially successful in the German east and being on track of having its first prime minister at the state level this fall. Even without a majority, the AfD’s growing electoral gains have already led to stricter border security and asylum policies by the other parties.
Alice Weidel (right), group leader of the Alternative für Deutschland, and Tino Chrupalla, chairman of the AfD, attend the AfD party convention at the Erfurt Exhibition Centre in Erfurt, Germany, in July.Katharina Kausche
There are currently five major parties represented in the Bundestag, while many smaller parties are involved in local governments across the country. Those are a lot of options for a country just short of 85 million people.
Meanwhile, in the U.S., there are 350 million people coming from all walks of life and facing a host of local issues that often get lost in the push for nationalized politics. Having multiple parties would give voters more choices and solve problems more effectively while weakening polarization.
For example, here in Pennsylvania, environmentalists and proponents of Big Tech could compromise over data center regulations that protect communities while still making way for artificial intelligence development. Progressive Democrats and union-backed Republicans like Brian Fitzpatrick and moderate Rob Bresnahan could work out solutions for the structural changes of the former coal and steel regions of the state.
Of course, having more than two parties wouldn’t magically solve all problems, but it could broaden democratic competition and debate, give minorities more of a voice, and even help the GOP and the Democrats come together.
Yes, there would be fewer people under their respective tents, but the major parties would be able to focus on their own raison d’être again, since it’s impossible to stand for something when you’re trying to stand for everything.
The United States is a huge country with impressive diversity — it’s time to have a party system that reflects this.
Wim Orth is a journalist with WELT in Berlin and an Arthur F. Burns fellow at The Inquirer.
Abington Township is trying to exit its Flock Safety agreement early for breach of contract over data leaks, Police Chief Patrick Molloy said at a recent meeting, as officials implement a new surveillance system and draft new policies for the replacement system.
The township board of commissioners approved a contract for Axon cameras at its regular meeting on Aug. 27 that would replace the Flock system, which police say helped solve crimes but were rife with unexpected data security issues.
The Flock cameras, known as automated license plate readers, or ALPRs, can collect not only plate numbers but also details about vehicles and driving habits. Police can search the footage to track a specific car across time and jurisdictions, which Abington officials say helps to solve missing persons, theft, and other cases.
The Flock contracts are currently under review at the township solicitor’s office, Molloy said Tuesday. Abington still has a Flock camera turned on in the township, Molloy said, because it is in use for an active investigation.
Abington is trying to exit its contract with Flock early
Now the township is exploring ways to exit its remaining Flock contract early, officials said at the meeting. The three-year agreement, which costs $10,500 annually, would otherwise end in 2028.
A second contract with Flock that cost $9,225 per year for two years expired last month.
The township’s solicitors did not return requests for comment on the plans.
Lt. Joe Blei previously indicated that the department’s Flock data were shared in ways Abington police had not expected. While Abington thought the township would retain sole discretion over its data, search logs from Abington police were released via public records requests to a police department in Illinois.
Flock’s current terms allow customers to cancel if the company “defaults in performance of any material provision of the Agreement” and does not solve the issue within 30 days.
The new system the township approved last month from Axon keeps data in a server that only the township has access to, officials said at the meeting, and prevents external agencies from duplicating Abington’s data.
Abington police can access the server via evidence.com, the same website police use to access body-camera footage, officers said.
Axon logs are also audited by external bodies, and the results of those audits will be made available to the commissioners for review, police said.
Abington is implementing new policies for surveillance cameras
The police department is implementing new policies of its own for the automated license plate reader systems, including scheduled audits of officer searches and a 30-day retention period for data that are not part of a criminal investigation.
The 30-day period is longer than the new default period of seven days that Flock recently adopted, and the 48 hours recommended by the ACLU.
But Molloy said that his department needs the extra time in order to make sure officers can gather all of the relevant data once a criminal investigation is opened.
Abington accesses the data only for criminal investigations, and would allow external agencies, such as the federal government, to access Abington’s data only for crimes and not for civil offenses such as immigration violations, officials have said.
Molloy said after August’s commissioners meeting that the policy also applies to fusion centers like the Delaware Valley Intelligence Center.
The center, which shares information and intelligence among local police, federal agencies, and private companies, has a broad law enforcement remit, including monitoring social media for what it views as potential domestic terror threats, such as anti-data center sentiment.
Police at the meeting reiterated that ALPR systems are useful in solving crimes. Abington used the Flock cameras to help solve a string of robberies that officials said involved a theft ring using Wi-Fi jammers and hidden cameras to burglarize 13 homes in Pennsylvania, Molloy said.
“It’s probably one of the most effective tools that I’ve seen in my whole 30-year career,” Molloy said.
This suburban content is produced with support from the Leslie Miller and Richard Worley Foundation and The Lenfest Institute for Journalism. Editorial content is created independently of the project donors. Gifts to support The Inquirer’s high-impact journalism can be made at inquirer.com/donate. A list of Lenfest Institute donors can be found at lenfestinstitute.org/supporters.
As training camp nears, the 76ers have added to their list of training camp invitees, with the latest coming in Dillon Jones.
Jones will join the Sixers on an exhibit 10 contract, a source said. That contract will allow him to come to camp and compete for one of the remaining two-way roster spots the Sixers have open.
The Oklahoma City Thunder took Jones, 24, with the 26th pick of the 2024 draft, and he spent his first season in Oklahoma City. A 6-foot-5 forward, he averaged 10.2 minutes and 2.5 points in 54 games. He also appeared in 10 games that postseason as the Thunder won the championship.
Last summer, the Thunder traded him to the Wizards, who waived him before the start of the season. Jones ended up signing a two-way contract with the New York Knicks in January and appeared in seven games with the franchise.
Jones will likely be in the mix for a two-way contract with the Sixers, who have Rayan Rupert and Caleb Love as two of their allotted three two-way deals. A two-way contract doesn’t count toward a team’s total on the salary cap but players on two-way deals can’t participate in the playoffs.
Jones joins other training camp invitees the Sixers announced last week that included Jameer Nelson Jr., the son of Sixers general manager Jameer Nelson, Saint Thomas and veteran center Tacko Fall.
Jones played in college for four years at Weber State, where he averaged 20.9 points in his senior year.
WASHINGTON — The Justice Department is demanding testimony before a Florida grand jury in an investigation aiming to establish an intelligence community conspiracy against President Donald Trump, according to multiple people familiar with the matter.
New subpoenas being issued to former government officials represent an escalation in the yearlong investigation as the Justice Department pursues a loosely defined theory that members of the intelligence community who scrutinized Trump over the last decade, including over Russian interference in the 2016 election, conspired against him and violated his rights.
Investigators in recent days contacted some defense lawyers for witnesses advising them of forthcoming grand jury subpoenas. It was not clear how many as of Tuesday had received a subpoena or were still waiting to receive one, and the identities of the witnesses receiving subpoenas were also not immediately clear. The people who confirmed the subpoenas spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a secretive grand jury investigation.
Investigation has focused on the Trump-Russia probe
The contours of the conspiracy investigation aren’t fully known, but agents and prosecutors over the last several months have focused intensely on one of Trump’s chief grievances: the U.S. government response to Russian interference in 2016 and an intelligence community assessment that Moscow meddled on Trump’s behalf at the direction of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Trump, who spent much of his first term shadowed by an investigation into whether his campaign colluded with Russia to sway the outcome of the election, has for years lashed out at the intelligence community finding and cast it as a “deep state” conspiracy to undermine the legitimacy of his win.
Investigators searching for potential crimes in connection with the intelligence community response have conducted numerous voluntary interviews, but the subpoenas prepared for witnesses in recent days represent an apparent effort to lock down sworn testimony before a grand jury.
It remains unclear whether anyone will be charged or for what offense, though lawyers for former CIA Director John Brennan have said they have been informed that he is a target as investigators examine whether he falsely testified to Congress — something he and his attorneys have consistently denied. The Justice Department last spring subpoenaed witnesses before a Washington grand jury as part of an investigation into Brennan, but swiftly withdrew the subpoenas in favor of voluntary interviews.
The investigation is being run out of Florida, with the Justice Department in April bringing back into government service a top prosecutor from the Reagan administration, Joe diGenova, to serve as a counselor to the attorney general and help lead a team of agents and prosecutors.
DiGenova, who had previously asked then-Attorney General Pam Bondi to appoint him to the job and has openly and repeatedly claimed Trump was the victim of an intelligence community conspiracy, declined to comment Tuesday when reached by the Associated Press.
In an indication of the wide-ranging nature of the investigation, the AP reported last month that diGenova’s team has sought interviews with law enforcement officials involved in the 2022 FBI search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago property in Palm Beach, Fla. The search recovered a trove of classified documents that formed the basis of a since-abandoned Justice Department prosecution of Trump, who has long decried the FBI operation as an invasion of his privacy.
Concerns from defense lawyers about a ‘favored’ judge
Investigators have set up shop in Fort Pierce, Fla., the home court of U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, the Trump-appointed jurist who repeatedly appeared skeptical of the classified documents case against him and ultimately dismissed it after concluding that the prosecutor who filed the charges was illegally appointed.
Lawyers for Brennan last year asked the chief judge of the federal court in Florida to prevent the investigation from being steered to Cannon, whom they described as a “favored” Trump judge. They have since sued the Trump administration, demanding a court order requiring prosecutors to preserve records from the investigation so that Brennan could challenge any eventual prosecution of him as vindictive and selective.
Trump came to office in 2017 under scrutiny from the intelligence and law enforcement community about whether his successful campaign had conspired with Russia, which stole politically damaging Democratic emails and orchestrated their release through WikiLeaks as part of a wide-ranging interference scheme.
A Justice Department special counsel, Robert Mueller, investigated but found insufficient evidence to prove a criminal conspiracy between Russia and the Trump campaign, though his team of investigators did find that Russia interfered in sweeping fashion in the election and that the campaign eagerly hoped to benefit from Moscow’s help.
Subsequent investigations by an inspector general and Justice Department prosecutors identified numerous errors and omissions by agents who conducted the Russia probe but found no evidence of criminal wrongdoing by senior law enforcement officials nor proof of an anti-Trump conspiracy like what prosecutors are now hoping to prove.
Deeply frustrated by those outcomes, Trump has amplified his demands for retribution, which his Justice Department has heeded. Last year, Bondi directed prosecutors to put evidence before a grand jury following the release of documents aimed at calling into question the legitimacy of the Trump-Russia inquiry.
